I'll have more later this week on what so many of us (and especially me) got wrong but I think one of the big matters is that Democrats never understood or grappled with why Trump had such positive ratings on the economy, both pre- and post-COVID.
Partly economic performance is just a fact on the ground that still affects you as a challenger even if you acknowledge it. But liberals underestimate how strong the GOP message of "a private economy that works for you" is and Trump was presiding over such an economy in 2018-19.
Then in '20, household finances held up shockingly well in such a terrible crash, in large part due to bipartisan CARES Act and Fed action. Views of the economy held up much better than you'd expect from the headline numbers.
So in that context, I should have been more surprised that Trump wasn't polling better.
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